The 2008 Falsies Awards: In Memory of the First Casualty | Center for Media and Democracy

by | Dec 12, 2008 | Public Relations

CMD have released their 2008 Falsies list. As always, it’s interesting reading.

Learn about:

  • PR industry tricks such as ” third party technique” and how the Pentagon has been using it to dupe American citizens;
  • Which PR firms are taking dirty coal money to try to dupe people into thinking ‘clean coal’ is anything more than a line of spin;
  • Which PR firm took China’s money to try to make them look better during the Olympics – and failed miserably;

The 2008 Falsies Awards: In Memory of the First Casualty | Center for Media and Democracy

HTC Touch 3G review

by | Dec 5, 2008 | technology

I’ve been playing the new HTC Touch 3G for the last week. Here are my thoughts.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUdx6Cur9-U&hl=en&fs=1]

Australian News Media Takes More Hits

by | Dec 5, 2008 | Australian media

From Crikey today:

Fairfax CEO David Kirk was sacked by the Board yesterday. While I never thought Kirk was a good choice for the role, it’s hardly his fault that their share price is in the toilet. They’ve been running it into the ground for years. And they *still* aren’t coming to me for advice.

Two years ago, when I was at the PANPA conference, I heard the newly-minted CEO Kirk say that his strategy for Fairfax had 3 priorities:
1. defend and grow the newspapers
2. build strong online businesses
3. become a genuinely integrated digital media company

Name me one significant online move they have made in the last two years?

Also from Crikey:

News Ltd are quietly cutting journalists. I’d hate to be a traditional journalist these days.

Prop 8 – The Musical

by | Dec 4, 2008 | US politics

Wikipedia defines bigotry as:

“A bigot is a person who is intolerant of opinions, lifestyles or identities differing from his or her own, and bigotry is the corresponding attitude or mindset.”

Anyone who voted for Prop 8 in the recent Californian elections or who contributed money to the campaign for it – the Bill which introduced a ban on same-sex marriage into the Californian constitution – is a bigot, plain and simple. Prop 8 was, of course, mostly financed by the Mormons, The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, 77% of the funds for Prop 8 came from LDS families, who were asked/told to support it by the Church, according to an LDS press release.

The Mormons are understandably copping a lot of heat for their actions including an investigation into whether or not they broke Californian disclosure laws.

You can review a list of the major donors here or search a database of contributors here.

I think Jack Black has it right in this video:

http://player.ordienetworks.com/flash/fodplayer.swf

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Smiley face in the night sky? Proof that God exists?

by | Dec 1, 2008 | Melbourne, Uncategorized


Smiley face 7

Originally uploaded by cameronreilly

I had no idea this was happening tonight, but when I looked up and saw this smiley face I was BLOWN AWAY. Apparently, we’re seeing Venus, Jupiter and a thin three-day-old crescent moon. What the photo doesn’t show, though, is how amazingly bright all three appear against the stars in the sky. Venus and Jupiter look so bright, you’d almost think they are about to land on you. Is this Jesus looking down on me? Have I been wrong all along???

More of my photos here.

Daniel Bowen in Melbourne got a great shot.

fatalie shows us what we’re looking at.

The Internet Censorship General Strike

by | Nov 29, 2008 | Uncategorized

Last night at BTUB I met Michael Meloni from Somebody Think Of The Children (along with lots of other great people) and we were talking (of course) about the Australian government’s absurd plan to filter the internet.

I’ve been wondering over the last few months about what we, the Internet community, can do to alter the decision of the Rudd government on this issue. Signing petitions and writing letters to the Minister are great, but I suspect they aren’t enough to change the course he’s on. This morning I was reading Howard Zinn’s awesome “A People’s History Of The United States” and he was discussing the many strikes that occurred in the USA during the 19th century and I started wondering if a strike is one way we can get politicians to take notice of our concerns.

If the IT and Internet community in Australia went on a general strike over the issue of Internet censorship, I have no doubt that we could cause many Australian businesses and government agencies pain. A strike by the IT/Internet community would also generate a lot of press.

Then I started wondering how we’d mobilize the community. We don’t have a union or any kind of genuine organization. There are groups like AIMIA and the AIIA but I seriously doubt they would support any kind of industrial action, nor do they represent many people working in the industry.

So we need to organize and mobilize. We need to create a single focus point for action. Any ideas?